zlacker

>>asim+(OP)
Fasting is a great idea, but most of the Muslim friends I have eat through out the night after breaking the fast at sunset. I don't think that is very healthy.

>>jimmye+z8
Its not particularly healthy, though many ancient cultures prior to Islam have used fasting as part of a way to cleansing of the gut. The relevance to the moon is also from Pagan cultures

>>amriks+m31
Have you ever occurred to you that it might be the other way around? There was always one monotheistic religion and God, but then things got sidetracked and people started making stuff up.

Also, Moon is relevant in Islam, as a calendar and timekeeping, nothing to be worshipped.

Also, All Monotheistic Religions have had fasting (the 3 big ones that survived so far) but again, the worst enemy of the people is their own selves and not the devil, and thus they modified what was given to them.

>>nullch+Zg1
Look into Zoroastrianism, the grand-daddy of monotheistic religions. About 1800 years before Islam. They didn't fast more than one day a year, if that.

"In Zoroastrianism or Mazdaism, however, fasting has been implicitly rejected throughout the faith’s history. Zoroastrian doctrine perceives no disjunction between spirit and matter along lines of good and evil; rather, it regards both as essential for achieving piety and both as susceptible to unrighteousness. Hence, Zoroastrians believe that the body should function as a means by which the soul can fight evil and regard any action that physically weakens the body as sinful. Moreover, sex is viewed as essential for procreation which brings more believers into the world. Standard or Young Avestan texts such as the Vidēvdād (Avesta, ed. Geldner, 3.33, 4.48, 7.70) emphasized that eating was essential for life, claimed consumption of meat enhanced spiritual perception, and suggested hunger and thirst caused much suffering. Pahlavi commentaries continued this anti-ascetic theme, stressing the notion of moderation or paymān between gluttony and privation in partaking of food, drink, and sex. Piety was said to result from not fretting about moderate consumption, and deviation from this mean was equated with concupiscence (Dēnkard, ed. Madan, pp. 267, 295)." https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/fasting

Then Mani came along, introduced fasting. It was the main rival to Christianity before Islam came along. Both Islam and Christianity are heavily influenced by Mani and vice versa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism